Advertising apparatus.



vc. H. KING. ADVERTISING APPARATUS- APPLICATION FILED OCT. I1 1914.

Patented Dec. 21, 1915.

5 SHEETSSHEET l.

VITXESSES: J6.

A 'rron N HY c. H. KING.

ADVERTISING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 14. 1914.

1,165,182. Patent-ed Dec. 21,1915

5 SHEETSQ-SHEET 2.

YVITNESESz l N VENTOR Patented Dec. 21,1915.

5 SHEETSSHEET 3.

WITNESSES:

Amomucy C. H. KING.

ADVERTISING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT-14, I914.

1,165,182, Patented Dec. 21, 1915.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

c KING.

ADVERTISING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED 0CT.14, 19M.

Patented Dec. 2&1915.

5 shins-smirk.

WITNESSES:

INVENTOR UNITED STATES. P 'rENT ornion.

CHARLES H. KING, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO NATIONAL TIME SERVICE 85 ADVERTISING 00., OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA.

ADVERTISING APPARATUS.

To all whom it may concern: p Be it known that I, CHARLES H. 'K 1No, a citizen of the United States, residlng at Oakland, in the county of Alameda and State of California, have invented-new and useful Improvements in Advertising Aph concealed position without the use of any extraneous folding mechanism or devices.

A further object of the invention is to provide an advertising mechanism comprising a relatively large number of display mediums' designed, constructed, proportioned and arranged for the economical use of space, and particularly in which the-display mediums are durable, simple and cheap in construction; and to provide a means for intermittently displaying for a predetermined period of time the successive'display mediums, said means being purposely designed for the ready installation and arrangement of the advertising mediums.

It 1s an'important purpose of my present invention to provide an apparatus which consists of a plurality of independent advertising mediums, with means whereby said mediums may be successively and intermittently displayed, and which means is actuated by power utilized only at the period of change of the mediums from one to the other, thus saving in consumption of power and providing a machine which may be run so as to display its advertising mediums for a given period of time with the least possible expense.

.Another object of the present invention is to provide a particularly attractive machine, having in combination with a suitable clock, a bank of display mediums arranged for con- Specification of Letters Patent.

trol the .clock, and in which the several Patented Dec. 21, 1915. Application filed October 14,1914, Se1'ia1No. 866,599.

elements of the apparatus may be inclosed in .a transparent cover for the protection of the mechanism and clear exposure thereof this exposure tending to render the apparatus more attractive because of the-ingenuity of the construction and of the apparently complicated mechanism,- which, as it is well known, is'in itself an attractive force to the curious and the mechanically inclined public.

The invention consists of the parts and the construction and combination of parts as hereinafter more fully described and claimed, having reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of the advertising machine. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the left side of the apparatus. Fig. 3 is a rear view of the apparatus. Fig. 4 is a detail side elevation of the display mediums and their controlling and actuating means, with the electrical circuit shown diagramone of the radial wings or frames.

Referring to the drawings, 2 indicates a suitable clock, which may be of any desired type, as, for instance, an electrically wound clock, the frame of which is securely-mounted upon a vertical standard 3, secured at its base to a pedestal 4. The pedestal 4 is shown here as of hollow construction for the ready connection of the several electrical circuits which may be utilized and the terminals of which are shown in Fig. 1 at 5; the circuits being thence led into the clock in respective order. The mechanism mounted upon the pedestal 4 is preferably inclosed in a transparent dome 6 which protects the works and at the same time renders them 'matically. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of clearly visible from the exterior so as to be dial frame 11.

13, formed 'U-shaped in. cross section for simplicity and cheapness of construction,

with opposite longitudinal beads 14 on each side at the top of the bar. The radiuswires 11 are suitablysecured in the bar- 13 and the latter is provided at its central portion with a short, outwardly projecting horn 15. Contiguous radial wings or frames are interconnected in pairs by a flexible web or medium 16 which is preferably of a strong, durable and easily foldable material, such as cloth, and upon either or both sides of which may be formed or placed the advertising matter, or a picture, or any other desired subject. The parallel edges of the advertising sheet 16, adapted to connect adjacent frame members 13, are'suitably secured in theadjacent beads 14 of the parallel and coordinate bars 13 of a pair of frame meninected to its oppsite beads 14 an advertising .A. Slllta.bl6 f 301K 61 number of the radial jwing lframes 11v is mounted for free turning I movement-upon the central axle 9 and all ofiith'e transversebars 13- of the frames are interconnectedwith the next adjacent bar central', .segmental bearing frame .7 and the advertising I mediums 16 are thenready for successive" display by being distended in U taut condition by any suitable mechanism so astojap'pear for clear observation.

i Preferably-the number ,of, advertising medium's, including the sheets 16 with their re- 'spective frames 11, i's 'jsuflicient to.;-permit 'one'ofjthe mediums 16 being stretched at anfoblique angle atone side of'thestack of I the frames with relation to the axle 9 and it is particularlydesirable that the angle of obliquity of the exposed sheet 16 be such 3 that a; Will automatically fold without the requirement of any folding "device per se. This desideratum I obtain by providing upon the, top ,of-the frame segment 7 a suitable device, comprising a pawl with a section- 17 pivoted at 18 on the frame and having slidably mounted'on its "outer portion a yieldable escape detent 19; the downwardly turned portion 20 ofiwhich is adapted to I engage successively the horns 15 of the ra- The composite pawl 17-19 is tilted downwardly through means of a suitable spring 21, one end of which is coni:.60 nected tovthe. adjacent portion of the segmental arm 7, and the detent member 19 is normally retracted: on the carrying part 17 of the pawlbya spring 22. The slidable detent 19 is'also provided with a roller 23 jon its lower edge which is adapted to enbers. Thus-each of the bars 13 has con by" ai'flex-ible' advertising sheet or me'dium 1'6,- as stated." I The .axle' 9, with theremovable advertising mediums thereon, is adjusted in' I 1 the slotted 'ends'lO of the brackets- 8 on the which follows the foremost wing retained by the point 20 of the sliding detent 19.

By positioning the pawl 17 adjacent to the top of the arcuate stack of folded advertising sheets 16, .when the foremost upper frame 11' is engaged by the point 20 of the detent 19 the sheet 16 connected to its forward side extends obliquely approximately in the chord of an arc. The wing frame 11' at its lower and opposite edge in the position a, Fig. 4, is retained by a latch 24 pivoted at 25 upon the front lower end of the segmental frame 7 and the latch is automatically operated by a spring 26. The angle of obliquity of the disclosed and taut sheet 16,- held between the cotiperative pawls 17 and 24, is preferably such that when the top lever 17, releases the upper, foremost wing 11, the sheet 16 will automatically fold, under the force of gravity, inwardly between the intermittently turning the stack of radial wing frames 11, with their respective display sheets 16, so as to successively and intermittently display these sheets. In the present invention this means comprises a magnetically operated and electrically con-- trolled mechanism which consists of an impeller in the form of a hook lever 27, suitably-positioned with relation to the segmen-' tal stack of radial frames and here shown v as so located as to engage the horns 15 of the frames 11' as they pass through the lower portion of their orbit about the axis 4. The lever 27 is pivoted at 28'upon the upper end of a lever 29 and is normally thrown yieldably upwardly to engage the successive horns 15 by a spring 30. The actuating lever 29 of the impeller 27 is secured to a rocker shaft 31 which is pivoted, as shown in Fig. 3,' in a suitable bearing plate 32 which is secured to the side of the standard 3 opposite to. the clock 2. The lever 29 is rigidly secured'to or formed with an armature 33 adapted to sweep through a mag- -netic field produced at the pole pieces 34 of an electromagnet 35 which is suitably mounted upon the bearing plate 32.

The energization of the powerful electro- -magnet 35 is controlled primarily through that end the magnet 35 is here shown as provided With a circuit 36 with a battery 37 and an electromagnetic switch 38 adapted to be closed by a relay magnet 39, the circuit wires 40 of which are electrified from a suitable source of current and in which is introduced a circuit breaker 41.

It is one of the features and elements of my invention to provide the magnet circuit 36 with produce a strong magnetic force at the pole pieces 34 for the positive and reliable operation of the lever 29 and the impeller 27 and at the same time to provide a relaycircuit 40, carrying aweaker current, which is sufficient, by means of the relay magnet 39, to

close the circuit breaker 38 of the power magnet 35.

Another important feature of this invention is to provide, in combination with the relay circuit 40, a circuit breaker 41 and a device controlled by the works of the clock 2 for closing the circuit breaker so that at suitable intervals the device actuated by the clockwork willclose the circuit breaker 41 I for the energization of the relay magnet 39;

this in turn closing the circuit breaker 38 of the prime or actuating magnet 35 and provide for closing the circuit breaker 41 a cam or star-wheel 42 which is secured upon the second wheel shaft 43 of the clockwork of the clock 2. Thus if the star-wheel 42 has five points, then in each sixty seconds the circuit breaker 41 will be "closed through the action of the star-wheel 42 every twelve seconds. Upon the closure of this circuit the power magnet 35 will be energized synchronously with the energization of the relay magnet 39 and a change of views or exposures be obtained in the advertising device.

In order to economize in the consumption of current during such hours out of the twenty-four of a day when the operation of the apparatus would be uneconomical, such,

for instance, as between the hours of twelve oclock midnight and four oclock in the morning, it is desired that the relay circuit 40 be interrupted for this period of time and between these hours. For that purpose another circuit breaker 44 is introduced in the circuit 40 of the relay magnet; the breaking of the circuit, at the breaker 34 being produced by a cam 45 mounted upon a shaft 46 geared in the clockwork of the clock 2 to make one revolution in every twenty-four hours. The high point of the cam'45 is effective at the approach of the hour at. which it is desired to cut out the circuit 40.

' to open the circuit breaker 44 and hold it in electrical disconnection the requisite pea sufficiently high voltage to.

feed wires 51 leading from a suitable source of electrical energy.

The impeller 27 is automatically thrown forward by a return or pull spring 29 and the stack of wings is locked against reverse movement by a lock dog 24.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In an advertising apparatus, a display medium comprising a flexible sheet with radial frames connected at opposite edges thereof and adapted for swinging movement about a common axis, with means for maintaining the coordinate frames in such angular position that the sheet will automatically flex downwardly by gravity between the frames when one moves toward the other. i

2. In an advertising apparatus, a flexible display medium, and means for holding such medium distended in display position at an angle to the vertical such that said medium will of its own weight fold without the assistance of extraneous devices when released.

3. In an advertising apparatus, the combination with an axial support, of a plurality of radial, relatively movable frames each turnable entirely about said support and adapted to lie longitudinally together in the form of a segmental annulus about the support, flexible webs connected at their parallel edges to the facing sides of con- 'by a flexible display medium adapted to be distended in approximately the chord of an arc, angularly disposed to both the horizontal and vertical planes, an axial support upon which said frames are mounted and about which they move in a circle, and a bearing structure for said support.

5. In an advertising apparatus, the combination of a plurality of relatively movable radial frames each connected to the other by a flexible display medium adapted to be distended in approximately the chord of an arc, an axial support upon which said frames are mounted and about which they move in a circle, a bearing structure for said support, said structure including an arcuate frame, and means mounted upon said frame for holding a connected pair of said frames. separated at substantially right angles for the display of said mediums.

6. The combination in an advertising apparatus, of a series of flexible display mediums, radial Wing frames mounted upon and turnable about a common axis and which are connected in pairs by said flexible mediums, means comprising an intermittently energized actuator for successively turning said frames into such a position that their connecting display mediums are distended in displaying position with said frames at substantially right angles to each other, said actuator including a [reciprocating hook engageable with each of said frames, and an electromagnet for moving the actuator.

7 A radial wing structure for advertising apparatus, said Wing structure comprising a transverse V-shaped connecting'bar folded upon itself and having opposite longitu dinal beads for the attachment of a display medium, and a pair of 1 parallel I wires clamped directly between thesidesf of said V-shaped member.

8. In 'an advertising apparatus, the com-;

bination with a supporting structure consisting of bearing members with axial common seats, of an axle removably mounted upon said seats, a plurality of radial, relatively movable Wing frames freely mounted upon said axle, said frames being adapted to rest longitudinally upon each other, means upon said support forholding a pair of adjacent ing frames separated at" substantially right angles one from the other, and foldable display mediums connected at parallel edges to adjacent faces of said frames.

9. The combination in an advertising. ap-

paratus of a plurality. of flexible display mediums in a common circle about a common axis and adapted to be distended in the plane of a chord of said circle subtending an angle of substantially ninety degrees, means forholding said mediums in their displaying position, and means for moving said mediums to cause their successive display;

.In testimony WhereofI have hereunto set my'hand in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

.GHARLES H. KING-.1 Witnesses:

JOHN H. HERRING,

W. HEALEY. 

